CBS, CNN in Talks to Partner, Again. Or Not.

CNN's in talks to join forces with a network news division -- but don't hold your breath.

According to The New York Times, discussions between the Time Warner-owned cable channel and CBS News have been going on over the past few months, and have "lately intensified." Broadly speaking, the scenarios under consideration would involve a pairing of CNN's newsgathering resources with CBS's marquee talent, yielding cost savings for the latter and greater exposure for the former.

But hang on. CNN has flirted with the idea of hitching its wagon to a network's star several times over the past decade -- ABC News being the other possible partner -- always to drop the idea over the matter of control or other details.

And indeed, officials at the two networks are already pooh-poohing the Times's report, saying the recent talks were limited to the possibility of sharing resources overseas, and didn't come to anything anyway.

Meanwhile, TV Newser notes that CNN already loans its talent to CBS for Evening News and 60 Minutes, so a new deal of the type reportedly being discussed might not look all that different from the status quo.